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Category Archives: kid fun

I had a date night with this handsome kid last night, and we went and saw Bumblebee. He’s been a huge Transformers fan since he was three years old, but somehow this one is the first we’ve seen in theaters! After a yummy meal at Subway, his favorite place to eat, it was off to the theater.

The movie opens on Cybertron, in the middle of the war. Arthur especially loved watching that battle rage, seeing the fall of Cybertron happen instead of the brief flashbacks we’ve seen in past movies. Bumblebee is sent to Earth by Optimus, as a sort of scout, to pave the way for the rest of the Autobots.

His arrival on Earth is not a peaceful one, but we do see how he loses his voice and it was a sad scene for me. He is my favorite Transformer after all. Things get better when Charlie comes along, and there are some very funny moments, with only a little heartbreak thrown in.

I won’t spoil the movie, but I did tear up a few times. Apparently I’m a soft touch and a bit of a sap with books and movies, but I am standing by my emotional rating!

There was a scene during the credits that makes me question if they will be doing at least one more of these prequel movies. Otherwise the timeline will be a little skewed and that will bother me forever!

Finally got out to see the new Wreck It Ralph last night and it was amazing! I laughed through most of it and gasped at a lot of scenes, but I’ve been told I’m too easily entertained at movies. On the other hand, my husband and brother, along with my kids, all loved the movie too!

It’s been six years since the events of the first movie, Ralph and Vanellope are still friends, playing their games all day and hanging out all night. Ralph thinks this is the greatest life possible, but Vanellope is getting bored. All the races are predictable, all the tracks have been unlocked, nothing new ever happens. Ralph tries to help, but the Sugar Rush game console ends up broken.

The two go to the internet to find the piece they need on Ebay. The bidding war is hilarious, ending with the two shocked to find they need actual money. Luckily some of the spammers gave them the idea to play games to win money. This leads them to Slaughter Race, with the amazing Shank, voiced by Gal Gadot.

Vanellope falls in love with Slaughter Race, the excitement, the newness of every race. Ralph becomes a BuzzTube darling, earning money by making an idiot of himself in videos. You know, true American fashion!

The bit with the Disney Princesses was entertaining. I liked seeing the Princesses fall in love with casual clothes. Every woman can relate to that scene!

Ralph earns the money for the part, but freaks out when he realizes Vanellope doesn’t want to return to the arcade.

The weird thing about this movie, something happening more and more in kid films, is that there is no definable bad guy. There are shady characters, bad elements, but the line of “good” and “bad” is getting blurred. That sends an important message to kids because “bad” people, aren’t always bad. We all are capable of making bad calls and doing the wrong thing.

The side story about what’s going on with Felix and Calhoun is hilarious, especially to parents. Tony and I were cracking up all through that bit!

There are post credit scenes that are worth staying for. Tony had just mentioned that the scene with the kitty and bunny wasn’t in the movie, and not two seconds later, it showed up in the credits. Watching it in the theater I’ve decided that it was baby Moana playing that game, and I loved it all the more for that fact.

Family recommendation: go see it, laugh your butt off, be scared and relieved, take the amazing advice from a character named Shank. The advice given was that you can still be friends without being in each others pockets all the time. As an army brat, constantly moving, I thought it was great to have that in a kids movie!

I may have sucked, but I competed in my first ever marathon! This marathon, where you can run either a 5K or walk 1M, raises money to support the Brunswick, OH area food bank. I was planning to do the mile walk with my husband and kids, but my kids talked me in to attempting the 5K. Poor choice….

Justice League of America

Costumes aren’t required, but any excuse to dress up is a good time in my mind. Our family theme this year was Justice League. We pulled my brother in to be our Superman too!

My brother, the former Marine, ran the 5K in 23 minutes. Not bad for someone that hasn’t done any running since last November when he separated!

Third fastest in his age range

My husband walked the mile, joined by our son when he gave up on the 5K. Our daughter finished around 35 minutes. There is a reason she wanted to be the Flash! My sad excuse for a Wonder Woman self completed it in 55 minutes. I feel I would have done better if I had started out walking to warm up. Shin splints are real and they suck!

Best Female Costume

I did win for having the best female costume. I will never be the fastest, but I can certainly own the best costume category!

Really looking forward to next year. I will actually prepare for the 5K, you know, practice running, stretch. Smart stuff!

Have you ever run a marathon? Are you one of those people that live for the runner high?

So how many of you were able to view any part of the eclipse a few days ago? I learned about it a few weeks ago, and decided this was something I wanted the kids to experience. Luckily, totality was visible a few short hours from where my parents live in North Carolina. It was a little funny because my kids started school on Wednesday, went Thursday, then I pulled them out Friday through Tuesday for this trip. Their teachers were all for it, it is kind of like a science field trip after all!

This was the best picture I was able to get with my phone

It’s been 26 years since I was able to experience an eclipse, and it has been weird for me this time around listening to everyone freaking out. Schools in our area of Ohio were basically having a lock down, keeping all the kids inside during the entire event. When I was in school, we made eclipse viewers to watch the event with. Glasses were readily available, but people were against using them for fear of eye damage, a valid argument, yes, but a little research could’ve allowed anyone to watch this event.

We watched the eclipse from Lee State Park near Bishopville, SC. The rangers there had information about the eclipse available, crafts to entertain kids leading up to totality, and it was at a park, so it was a nice place to relax and enjoy during the event.

Allowing you to see the progress without staring at the sun

My kids especially enjoyed this eclipse viewer the rangers had, as it made seeing the progress very easy. No constant on and off with your glasses.

Almost at totality

Given our location, we had a short window of the sun being completely dark, and the experience was amazing. Night bugs started calling, nature seemed to hold it’s breath in confusion for a few moments, then the sun came back out and normality resumed.

Everything went dark

Arthur was amazed! Chiara was less than thrilled, but enjoyed being outside for the whole time, and the crafts.

I know we’re all looking forward to the next one in seven years. Luckily no travel will be involved as we already live in the path of totality!

This game ended up being more fun than I expected. When I first had this idea, my Pinterest brain immediately jumped to cutting shapes out of a tarp for targets. Then Tony informed me that our soccer goal has this attachment with cut outs already in it. Awesome!

Start by having the kids make monster faces. If you know anything about Sailor Moon, you’ll know that the monsters range from scary, to pretty, to just plain weird. I just had ovals, kid-face sized, ready for the kids to draw on. Then attach a string to the face to hang on your monsters on your target.
I hit the Dollar General for some flying rings, the frisbee rings, whatever you want to call them. Another Sailor Moon tidbit, for those who don’t know, when fighting monsters, Sailor Moon takes her tiara off, it begins to spin, then she throws it like a frisbee. Once your monsters are attached to your targets, the kids can now line up and throw frisbees at the monsters, just like Sailor Moon!

I think of all the games we played at Arthur’s party, this was the biggest hit. Nothing more fun than shooting Nerf guns after all!

First things first, you need to make your Tie Fighters. I just used cardboard and super glue. It may not seem sturdy, but these held up to a deluge after the party was over! You cut out your hexagon ends, then a connecting piece with a circular shape in the middle. Super glue the pieces together as shown, then spray paint them black and you’re set!

To mount these Tie Fighters, I skewered them with simple wooden grilling skewers and stuck the skewers into garden stakes. They spun around in the wind, and the effect was really cool!
To finish up this game prep, just gather your Nerf guns and let the kids open fire. When we had a little time leftover, this is what most of the kids went back to. No higher praise among 10 year olds!
Have fun, and stay strong in your fight against the Empire!

This is another game that I pulled together last minute and meant to play up a little more. *sigh* Remember the scene from Rogue One where the rebels have landed on Skariff and they are setting off bombs on the different landing pads to create a distraction? That’s what I was going for here.
All you need for this game is:

• landing pads (I used wire baskets from dollar general)

• water balloons (these are fun bombs for kids when it’s nice outside)

• a marker for the kids to stand behind (I used the signs my kids got from school for being awesome)
Then you line the kids up and have the kids try to bomb the landing pads. My baskets kept flipping over when they were hit, so if we do this again we’ll have to weigh them down. You also have to watch the kids like hawks to ensure they don’t try to throw balloons at each other. My husband also thought it was funny to throw them over the house when we were all playing in the back yard. He almost got one of the moms!
Have some fun, maybe decorate the baskets like landing pads, but enjoy some Rogue One fun!